PIN
® Benchmark/Elk Creek
OWuN'EAIN Silver King/Falls Creek
W.M.A.
( Stonewall Mountain
ky Mt. Peak
Monture
3m 9392ft
S
(8) Swan Front
1Wilderness
® Swan Crest
toP
j East Side S. Fork Flathead R
vW ER
'/
() Middle Fork Flathead River
S( Badger/Two Medicine
Augusta
o
20 km
0
20 mi
287 NGS CARTOGRAPHICDIVISION
IV
~
DESIGN:JOHNW. LOTHERS
RESEARCH:DOROTHY
NICHOLSON.LINDAKRIETE
PRODUCTION:ELLENLANDSMAN
to the Bob, the rest to the Scapegoat-from roadless
national forest lands that are adjoining. The Forest
Service has recommended much smaller additions,
totaling 165,000 acres. *
The adjoining lands have other claimants. Com
mercial timber exists in a few valleys. The more seri
ous competition may be deep down. These lands are
part of the Overthrust Belt, a geologic structure ex
tending from Alaska into Mexico, in recent years a
significant source of petroleum and natural gas. Not
surprisingly, energy companies and speculators have
filed for leases to explore most of the acreage in the
potential wilderness additions.
Development could seriously affect wildlife, game
managers say. East of the Bob, along the Rocky
*See "Our National Forests: Problems in Paradise," by Rowe
Findley, in the September 1982 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC.
Within earshot of wilderness,
seismic crews detonate charges
(facingpage), testingfor
stratafar below that may
hold hydrocarbons.Such
explorationcontinues in most
of an 878,000-acrepotential
additionto the Bob Marshall,
Scapegoat,and GreatBear
Wildernesses. Together, they
form a 1.5-million-acreenclave.
691